Homicide detective Murtaugh (Glover), having just turned 50, is
assigned an emotionally unstable new partner, Martin Riggs (Gibson), a
suicidal mess, tormented by the recent death of his wife. As a result,
Riggs (whose martial arts skills classify him as the “lethal weapon” of
the title) is prone to taking huge risks, frequently placing himself in
harm’s way. While investigating the drug-induced suicide of an old army
buddy’s daughter, Murtaugh uncovers a powerful and murderous
heroin-running operation based in Los Angeles.

Richard Donner’s 1987 hit is a flashy and loud cop thriller given a
little bit of extra spark from the amiable Glover and wild-eyed
Gibson’s pairing, but ultimately feels a bit patchy and uneven. Shane
Black’s script has two or three plot turns that are very effectively
timed; when you feel a scene is building toward something, a sudden
event or shocking death will happen about a minute or two before you
would have anticipated it. It gives the film some real snap.
Unfortunately, the film ends up far from where it starts. The movie
initially plays as a standard cop picture with a bit of an edge and has
a strong sense of darkness and personal loss (Glover and Gibson have
two very good scenes in this regard), but as the movie goes on, the
evolving richness of the characters and their emotions are abandoned in
favor of empty spectacle and macho posturing. The last quarter of the
movie really taxes credibility during an increasingly implausible chain
link of violent confrontations that spin into way over-the-top mayhem.
The final section of the film goes on and on, well past the point of
interest. As a result, the visceral thrills of the second half of the
film seem at odds with the initial setup.

In retrospect, scenes that seemed a natural outgrowth of the characters
(like Riggs’s dinner at Murtaugh’s house) feel schematic and
manipulative. Instead of tight, well-observed screenwriting, it ends up
feeling by-the-numbers and mechanical. The dramatic scenes all seem to
be in service of the action scenes and designed to get us there, which
ultimately feels too “cool” and insincere. Instead of Riggs’s and
Murtaugh’s status as Vietnam vets giving their characters richness and
background, it’s used solely to give them some connection to the
Special Forces ops who are running the heroin ring. Even the
anticipation that Riggs might have known one of the bad guys in the
past isn’t used; these are unrelated other Special Forces guys and it
feels a missed opportunity. The film is still a punchy and exciting
ride, but it’s ultimately pretty shallow.

Production-wise the film is solid, with the big-budget slickness
expected from a Joel Silver production. The large amount of night
photography gives the image a more prevalent grain but the design and
lighting are frequently colorful. The film is also well cast, with a
terrific gallery of character actors. Tom Atkins, Gary Busey and
Mitchell Ryan are particularly odious villains. Now, nearly 20 years
old, “Lethal Weapon” is starting to show its age a bit. It’s filled
with 80’s tropes—cocaine and pills as the drug of choice, big 80’s
hair, women in suits with shoulder pads and a soundtrack filled with
smoky, snaky jazzy saxophone licks. At least we’re spared cheesy 80’s
synthesized songs until the “Lethal Weapon” song which plays out during
the end credits. Given the sheer constant volume of profanity in films
we’ve witnessed over the last few decades, the dialogue now seems a bit
soft. It’s distracting when Murtaugh repeatedly shouts “Go spit!” to
the villains who are torturing him, his daughter and his partner. He’s
on the verge of being killed and seeing his daughter killed and that’s
as far as his intensity and rage take him? There are some delights to
be had from the period, to be sure. Look fast to catch a theater
showing “Deadly Friend”, an in-joke “Lost Boys” marquee (Donner
produced it), and (wow) a porno theater still open on Hollywood
Boulevard.

Of all the HD DVD discs I’ve watched or reviewed since the format’s
launch, “Lethal Weapon” is the least impressive. There’s an added
clarity and crispness in close-ups of actor’s faces, hands and the
like, but the gulf between a standard DVD transfer and this disc seems
pretty narrow. Scenes saturated in red are softer and less distinct
than the format can accomplish. The WB opening logo card is extremely
dirty and should have been fixed during cleanup. The audio is fine,
though the mix is a bit loud and buries some of the dialogue. The music
is extremely warm and crisp (in the jazzy riffs) and loud, thunderous
and punchy (for the orchestral action scenes); the disc gives the music
tangible foreground presence. On the down side, the 19-year-old sound
mix (re-mixed in 2000 to 5.1 which is used here) lacks the power and
room flattening bass needed for the house explosion and the car
crushing impact of the falling woman in the opening scene. The surround
use is also extremely limited and could have been used to much better
effect in the desert sequence.

Departing from the template of their previous HD DVD releases, Warners
has released “Lethal Weapon” in a different version than the one
presented on the previous DVD. The DVD release was an expanded cut
which added 7 mins to the original 110 min theatrical running time. The
HD DVD release presents the film with its original theatrical running
time and presents the extra scenes as a bonus feature. The scenes are
brief and don’t add much, either way, but a two-minute sequence (of
Riggs facing down a schoolyard sniper) that was in the director’s cut
DVD isn’t present in the “Additional Scenes” or in the film itself,
which is irritating. Alternate scenes from this film were also
presented on the DVD of “Lethal Weapon 4” and would have been a welcome
inclusion here…as would any bonus features on the filmmakers, actors or
on the making of the film. This was a smash theatrical hit for Warner
Bros. and this nearly bare-bones release is a bit of a disappointment.